At the risk of seeming sinfully self involved ... I'm going to start a thread about frivolous things.

I don't mean that I've decided to ignore important things like family, health, ecology etc. All I mean is that ... well, we all have some little things that are enjoyably important to us.

I'm half serious. Through weigh loss and my journey toward better health (inextricably linked), I've come to realise that we are complex creatures. Body, mind, soul, environment ... all, well ... inextricably linked.

I feel better if I have a scented candle burning.
I feel deliciously decadent if I creme my legs at bedtime.
I had myself mostly convinced to run some errands today in short jeans and flat clogs. However ... my bra and panties match, my shirt looks fabulous under this black jacket and the heels are on with long jeans. I feel slimmer!

Let's talk trimmings ... the little things that make life ... well, life!

Frivolous stuff, hmmm.

I love stuff that smells good. Scented candles, moisturizers, soap, shampoo, body gel. I also love treating myself to hair and skincare products. I must have at least ten different tubes of scented moisturizer right now, everything from stuff that I got in the $1 bin at Target (but smells amazingly good) to Kiehls intensive therapy hand cream. And I'm a sucker for a make-up giveaway, even though I almost never end up wearing any of it.

I'm addicted to pedicures. I had my first one about a year and a half ago and I swear, my toes have not been without polish since, even in the winter when no one but me can see them (that's when I try out more out-there colors, like blue). The pedicures have led to massages; I've now started scheduling a massage once every two months.

I secretly love fashion and gossip magazines. I never buy them for myself (except on airplane trips) and would never subscribe to any, but I love getting my hair colored because I get to read fashion magazines while the color sets. It's a little treat every 6 weeks. I'm always excited when there is a long line at the Safeway checkout (which is unfortunately rare--that store is too efficient) because I can browse through People while I wait. I wish Trader Joe's stocked gossip mags because they almost always have long lines at checkout.

Wow do I agree on scented candles!!!

I really go overboard when it comes to perfume. I don't skimp--if I like the scent, I'll pay whatever they want (but I usually buy it at Ulta when they have some giveaway going on).

I don't skimp on my haircuts/colors. It embarrassing to say how much I pay BUT when you find a hairdresser who has never done you wrong, you stay regardless of how much the rates go up. I've never had a bad cut in the 14 years I've gone to her!!! Thankfully she's about 5 years younger than I am, so she'll be around for a long time!

Hm, I have three candles going while I'm reading this... so I agree on that point
I also love those mornings when I wake up with no obligations or schedule constraints; I practically live for the next morning like this.
And books. And coffee. (And both at once!)

I wear perfume everyday , even if I stay home all day wearing sweats.

Perfume! Oi ... I just about stunk myself out of the car coming home! Not only did I try scents in three different stores ... I had a body wash incident. I had to ask for tissue at the pharmacy counter. I had it on my hand, up my arm, on the front of my shirt. What fun!

I love reading magazines. I can sometimes carve out about 2-3 consecutive hours Sunday afternoon where I just sit in my office and read magazines. Everything from Chatelaine to GQ to American Bungalow to Dogs /Cats in Canada.

I love trying out new teas - caffeinated and non.

I love being clean and scented with something other than dog (usually Chanel) on the weekends.

I love really really expensive and sinfully good chocolate in small doses. Eaten while entirely alone, concentrating on every molecule.

I love going out to dinner once a week - guess who does all the planning, shopping, and cooking the other nights?

And finally, I love my clandestine (sorta - DH is vaguely aware of it) online affair with Chris Noth. I'm doing the whole teenage fan thing - fan club/e group, photos, gossip, etc. Just because it's so much FUN!

Dagmar (dogsitting again with Windows Vista - HUH??? I can't even figure out how to turn the computer off!!!)

I forgot about flowers! I love having fresh cut flowers in the house so I buy some every week at the farmers' market. $5 gets me two bunches of flowers and they brighten my living room all week, sometimes even longer than a week.

I hear you! I love my hairdresser and I'll pay whatever she wants. (She's actually take classes from Nick Arrojo from What Not to Wear.) I let her do pretty much whatever she wants to my hair and I always leave looking like a model. It's like she can read my mind. And then there are the hair products I buy that I think run like $20 a bottle (I don't really know how much they cost because they don't itemize them on my receipt and I don't want to know). I try not to think about how much I spend on my hair.

I used to have quite a collection of houseplants. But when we moved into the farmhouse in the country and started heating with wood ... they didn't appreciate the variable temperatures.
I'm rebuilding now and have a few nice ones.
Fresh flowers are nice and so easy now. Almost every grocer has small bunches for cheap.

This is a fun thread. I couldn't think of anything yesterday, or now! Which makes me realize that I need a few small luxuries in my life. I live in a rural area, am always outside in the dirt or doing something with the dogs or cats - eau d'dog as someone mentioned. I kind of look like a farmer most of the time.

One thing I like is my Kate Spade perfume, but I don't wear it all the time. I am always saving stuff "for good" and then it goes bad .

Ooooo think of all those lovely hand soaps especially for gardeners hands! and scented spf lotions and hats and flowered gardening gloves and sooo many colours of rubber clogs.
I've gone a waaay overboard with perennials too. ... oh, and gardening mags and catalogues.

I can't do houseplants; I never remember to water them. The only reason my vegetable garden survives is because it is on an automatic drip system. It's a good thing I don't have kids; they'd probably go hungry too.

But fresh flowers are easy. Just stick 'em in water and enjoy. Sometimes they even smell nice too. Sometimes I get Asian lilies and you can smell them even just walking past them. They also last a long time.

Drat! You could see my pretty new blue bra through my scrub top. Had to switch it for white. Now I don't match!

Cut flowers. I don't buy them during the summer but I really appreciate them in late fall and winter. I have two bunches of bright orange lilies mixed in with a bunch of "baby" sunflowers on my kitchen table right now.

My mother briefly worked for a crystal importer when she came to Canada so I have inherited some beautiful vases. Just have to be careful to keep DH and Mudpie (see my avatar) away from' em. Any one else ever have a klutzy cat? I thought they were creatures of grace. Well, I guess Mud left her "kitty behaviour handbook" outside in the rain.

Dagmar

I love going book shopping. I could seriously spend hours and hours in a bookstore. Second hand or new, just browsing and reading all the titles...

That said I love the feeling of being all done everything, chores, homework, whatever else on a sunny Saturday afternoon and curling up with a new book in a sunny spot in my living room... And eventually napping in the sun.

And I too love a good haircut... got one last week and she straightened my hair too. I lvoe my curls, but having straight hair for a day is so much fun....